"Club Penton" - Ask questions to Hollywood insider "Penton-Man"

[Penton-Man]

I’ve noticed that Kill Bill: Vol. 1 and Kill Bill: Vol. 2 are due to street on Blu-ray very soon.
I very much recommend either renting or purchasing these Blu-ray discs as Quentin Tarantino is passionate about filmmaking, film history, film imagery, etc. and it shows with these titles.

If you all saw AFI’s 10 Top 10 broadcast from last June, you may remember that Quentin T. was one of the presenters during the program which speaks to his passion of the imagery and storytelling of motion pictures.

The sheer number and difference in texture of film stocks that he utilized for Kill Bill: Vol. 1 is quite amazing.
It’s also interesting to note the primary reason why Quentin T. ultimately decided on going the DI route with this feature film..... for those cinematographer/aspect ratio folks out there.

[Grubert]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

I’ve noticed that Kill Bill: Vol. 1 and Kill Bill: Vol. 2 are due to street on Blu-ray very soon.

Preordered since early July.

It’s also interesting to note the primary reason why Quentin T. ultimately decided on going the DI route with this feature film..... for those cinematographer/aspect ratio folks out there.

IIRC it was the first digital intermediate feature for Robert Richardson ASC, who BTW disliked how Super 35 turned out on Casino and much preferred shooting anamorphic (as he had done on Stone's Nixon, Scorsese's Bringing Out the Dead or Redford's The Horse Whisperer).

They decided to use DI basically because the "70s kung-fu-movie zooms" were impractical with the (inherently slower) anamorphic lenses. So they had to use spherical lenses. Which in turn drove them to use the DI.

Also, like JP Jeunet and Bruno Delbonnel a couple years before (on Amélie), Richardson found he could do much more precise colour-grading when working from a DI.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Grubert

IIRC it was the first digital intermediate feature for Robert Richardson ASC, who BTW disliked how............

Well, I think “dislike” is putting it mildly.

Which actually brings up the interesting topic of *what did the filmmaker originally intend*, because in reality, sometimes this was not what the theatrical presentation actually demonstrated.

I remember a few months ago I went through great lengths to search for quotes on ASC from DP’s that intended the grainy look of their films be as grainy as they ultimately turned out to be, as viewed on the release prints seen by the typical theatrical audience.

You can do your research and actually find just as many quotes from DP’s or Directors over the years that admit that certain films or certain sequences in certain films did not turn out as they had originally intended with regards to grain (too much !) because they were limited either by the capture device or the film stocks used.

And not only grain, but color !
I already gave an example of Sling Blade as being not what Billy Bob intended theatrical audiences to see and remember months ago Kim Aubrey took the time to post online that the Answer print used for the Blu-ray Bram Stoker’s Dracula was actually closer to the original vision Francis Ford C had intended for that motion picture, rather than the release prints shown to theatrical audiences.

B.T.W., Kim is a member of this forum and did some of the supplement work on the upcoming Godfather Blu-ray.

I think I get as much of a kick out of the forensic screenshot scientists, as I do out of those that pretend they know the original intent of the filmmaker, without having any inside knowledge whatsoever.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Grubert

Preordered since early July.

They decided to use DI basically because the "70s kung-fu-movie zooms" were impractical with the (inherently slower) anamorphic lenses. So they had to use spherical lenses. Which in turn drove them to use the DI.......

Correcto-mundo.

For those that aren’t following, R.R. was able to shoot with spherical lenses in Super 35 and then *squeeze* the images into a 2.4:1 during the digital intermediate process.
This reminds me of a rather *rousing and robust * discussion of Anamorphic vs. Super35, when, why, how…….amongst industry folks (tech geeks and cinematographers) several years ago.

I’ll see if I can hunt up the actual minutes of the meeting for your pleasure later.
It was a loooooooong one.

[Bullseye]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

I received a pro PM in regards to the Blu-ray Miami Vice, which apparently is getting a lot of attention over the internet boards.

Well, firstly, I figure you either love or hate *the look*………there aint no in-between.
Secondly, it seems that there are a lot of weird science authorities (you know what board I’m referring to) that have progressed from being over-night experts on DNR and EE to now being experts on the Viper Filmstream camera system.
I would love them to tell me things like what the raw footage looks like from a Thomson Viper before it is color corrected because it has a definite biased hue pre-color correction, not to mention its other *peculiarities* .

And you can’t even trust *official* sites like imdb because sometimes their information is either incorrect or incomplete, as they failed (probably not their fault) to list the Sony HDW-F950 as one of the capture devices utilized for the Miami Vice shoot (when it was used)……………….
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0430357/technical

Being a huge fan of MM and his use of colours I have to say I loved the gritty look of MV. My copy arrived today along with Top Gun. Some enterainment for the weekend.

[Rob Tomlin]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

I’ve noticed that Kill Bill: Vol. 1 and Kill Bill: Vol. 2 are due to street on Blu-ray very soon.
I very much recommend either renting or purchasing these Blu-ray discs as Quentin Tarantino is passionate about filmmaking, film history, film imagery, etc. and it shows with these titles.

If you all saw AFI’s 10 Top 10 broadcast from last June, you may remember that Quentin T. was one of the presenters during the program which speaks to his passion of the imagery and storytelling of motion pictures.

The sheer number and difference in texture of film stocks that he utilized for Kill Bill: Vol. 1 is quite amazing.
It’s also interesting to note the primary reason why Quentin T. ultimately decided on going the DI route with this feature film..... for those cinematographer/aspect ratio folks out there.

..

[dialog_gvf]

Originally Posted by Rob Tomlin

You definitely don't have to talk me into buying the Kill Bill set! I'm a huge Tarantino fan, and love these movies. I love how much Tarantino loves movies!

The big question is whether TWBA is going to come out.

Gary

[jd213]

Or the Japanese version of Vol 1. I don't want to have to go back to the US version after having seen Vol 1 uncensored.

[Grubert]

Originally Posted by Rob Tomlin

You definitely don't have to talk me into buying the Kill Bill set! I'm a huge Tarantino fan, and love these movies. I love how much Tarantino loves movies!

+1. Though I was hoping Buena Vista would throw in Pulp Fiction for 2008 as well...

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Rob Tomlin

You definitely don't have to talk me into buying the Kill Bill set! I'm a huge Tarantino fan, and love these movies. I love how much Tarantino loves movies!

Well, you know I love *French* girls –
Just in………………..

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/...c389494a8bc280

[Alan Gordon]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

Well, you know I love *French* girls –
Just in………………..

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/...c389494a8bc280

More so than little baby ducks?!

I'm not a Tarantino fan (sorry folks), but I like the premise for the above film. I'll have to check it out...

~Alan

[aramis109]

Originally Posted by Bullseye

Being a huge fan of MM and his use of colours I have to say I loved the gritty look of MV. My copy arrived today along with Top Gun. Some enterainment for the weekend.

Chalk up another fan of Michael Mann and Miami Vice. Watched my copy this last weekend finally and loved it. I had seen it on HD-DVD way back when (it was the first "HD" title I had ever seen) and I was blown away by the boat intro. Good to see it still has that punch. I knew from seeing it in the theater and on DVD and HD that it was going to have a lot of grain/noise (kind of like Collateral). I knew what I was in for, and I thought they did a hell of a job preserving the look he seemed to be going for.

Kudos on that title, for sure!

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Alan Gordon

More so than little baby ducks?!

I'm not a Tarantino fan (sorry folks), but I like the premise for the above film. I'll have to check it out...

~Alan

Well, it should be interesting to see next year if this
http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment...ntinos_in.html

turns out to be the real deal or a fake.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

Correcto-mundo.

For those that aren’t following, R.R. was able to shoot with spherical lenses in Super 35 and then *squeeze* the images into a 2.4:1 during the digital intermediate process.
This reminds me of a rather *rousing and robust * discussion of Anamorphic vs. Super35, when, why, how…….amongst industry folks (tech geeks and cinematographers) several years ago.

I’ll see if I can hunt up the actual minutes of the meeting for your pleasure later.
It was a loooooooong one.

The meeting minutes are not available on the SMPTE online site (the link actually re-directs one to a completely different meeting regarding film preservation) so when I return from the show, I’ll have to search the bowels of the basement for the report and maybe do a copy and paste job.

[Woody]

Originally Posted by aramis109

Chalk up another fan of Michael Mann and Miami Vice. Watched my copy this last weekend finally and loved it. I had seen it on HD-DVD way back when (it was the first "HD" title I had ever seen) and I was blown away by the boat intro. Good to see it still has that punch. I knew from seeing it in the theater and on DVD and HD that it was going to have a lot of grain/noise (kind of like Collateral). I knew what I was in for, and I thought they did a hell of a job preserving the look he seemed to be going for.

Kudos on that title, for sure!

Michael Mann! HEAT PLEASE!!!!

[Rob Tomlin]

Originally Posted by Grubert

+1. Though I was hoping Buena Vista would throw in Pulp Fiction for 2008 as well...

..

[aygie]

Originally Posted by Woody

Michael Mann! HEAT PLEASE!!!!

Being done as we speak.....

[Penton-Man]

So, I’m about to head out to the show and of course I get a PM asking me to comment upon………you guessed it, yet another author hyping the grain reduction issue in this outside link………………
http://whiggles.landofwhimsy.com/arc...mes_early.html

^
I do remember “lyris” (caption below the pictures in the “Update”)…….. he’s the same guy that months ago accused SPE (on the weird science forum’s infamous DNR/EE thread) of using a 1080i broadcast master for the re-issued The Fifth Element Blu-ray.
https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.p...postcount=5960

Let me just say that if this author truly desires to be taken seriously……….
1. He should refrain from sensationalizing or hyping things waaaaaaay out of proportion
and ……………..
2. He should learn the difference of the accepted definition (by those who actually work in the business), of the acronyms “DVNR” and “DNR” so that his *observations* don’t appear so amateurish.

Although the algorithms for “DVNR” and “DNR” (of whom many consider to be the preeminent vendor) may indeed be the same, their implementations in the chain of events is entirely different so, this speaks to his rudimentary knowledge of the process in general and how it relates specifically to the title in the first link above.............which, given the source, looks just fine.

[jd213]

I can't say I disagree with him when it comes to Nightmare since the grain reduction is indeed inconsistent so there doesn't seem much point in the DNR in the first place, and I don't think he's taking things "waaaaaay" out of proportion either, given that he says he doesn't think it's a terrible transfer.

[coolmilo]

How could there be grain in a CGI film unless it is intentionally added such as in Surf's Up? It is a CGI film, isn't it? Isn't the master stored on a computer somewhere and not film stock?

Anyone check out Pale Rider? This was an awesome transfer for a movie twenty something years old. Great job Warner, I just added this movie to my collection.